International: United Nations
The day the world shut the door on disaster
8 Nov 2016
PATRICIA ESPINOSA, UNFCCC Executive Secretary and SALAHEDDINE MEZOUAR, President of COP22 and Morocco Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation look at the UN climate conference which opened today in Marrakech:
Fossil fuel majors strut their stuff for Marrakech
8 Nov 2016
The oil industry has been in damage limitation mode ahead of this week’s climate change talks in the Moroccan city of Marrakech.
Paris will not kill fossil fuels, says ex-Saudi oil chief
8 Nov 2016
The oil and gas industry will thrive despite the UN’s new greenhouse gas slashing pact, says former Saudi oil chief and lead climate negotiator Ali Al-Naimi.
What nations need to achieve in Marrakech
4 Nov 2016
The past 12 months have been a relatively good year for global climate policy. Next week, the world’s countries meet in Marrakech to follow up on the gains made at Paris last year and to try to reconcile these two facts.
US election outcome likely to dominate Marrakech summit
3 Nov 2016
After a year of celebrating the Paris climate agreement, the hangover is about to kick in for the 195 countries who helped to deliver the deal last December.
Paris goals at risk from new coal schemes
11 Oct 2016
Slowing down construction of coal-fired power stations will be vital to hit globally agreed climate change goals, says World Bank president Jim Yong Kim.
Climate treaty races toward hazy future
7 Oct 2016
With a speed almost unknown in the annals of diplomacy, the Paris Agreement on climate change is ready to come into force a bare 11 months after it was reached on December 12 last year.
Australia lags as Paris deal swings into action
7 Oct 2016
Australia is not alone in having not yet ratified the Paris Agreement. When all the EU member states have formally joined it will leave Chile, Israel, Japan, Turkey and Australia as the only OECD members on the outer.
Paris Agreement a turning point, says Obama
7 Oct 2016
US president Barack Obama has said the Paris climate deal could prove a “turning point” in the effort to avoid dangerous global warming.
Opposition slams Government carbon credits plan
6 Oct 2016
New Zealand’s plans to buy its way out of emissions reductions run foul of the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change, Opposition parties say.
NZ ratifies Paris Agreement
5 Oct 2016
New Zealand has ratified the Paris Agreement and the European Union is about to, pushing the global climate change treaty over the threshold to bring it into force.
India signs but readies for scrap in Marrakech
5 Oct 2016
India might have ratified the Paris Agreement at the weekend but has indicated it’s ready for a scrap at the forthcoming UN climate talks in Marrakech. | Read more
Canada will tax carbon emissions to meet Paris targets
5 Oct 2016
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada will impose a tax on carbon emissions starting in 2018 as part of its efforts to meet targets set by the Paris climate change accord.
EU (and others) will ratify Paris deal this week
3 Oct 2016
EU ministers this week are expected to ratify the Paris Agreement, along with India and Cananda, meaning enough countries will have signed up for the deal to come into legal force.
Russia in the slow lane on road to Paris
29 Sep 2016
What’s holding Russia back from ratifying the Paris climate agreement?
Poland threatens EU plan to ratify pact
29 Sep 2016
Poland has demanded the EU protect its plans to build new coal-fired power plants if it wants fast-track its ratification of the Paris climate agreement.
IPCC chair: We can meet 2deg target if we act fast
28 Sep 2016
INTERVIEW: Hoesung Lee was elected chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change just one month before the landmark Paris climate talks of 2015.
Mali boosts Paris numbers
28 Sep 2016
Mali is the latest country to ratify the Paris Agreement – bringing the total number of countries to have ratified to 61, together responsible for 47.79 per cent of global emissions.
PARIS PACT: Morganists say NZ must sell units
23 Sep 2016
The Government must cancel all surplus carbon units it’s sitting on in 2020 as part of ratifying the Paris Agreement, says the group that wrote the Climate Cheats report.
PARIS PACT: Farmers play it short and sweet
23 Sep 2016
Federated Farmers has surprisingly little to say about the Paris Agreement – and that’s possibly a good sign for the climate.
PARIS PACT: Gen Zero does the job for MPs
23 Sep 2016
A group of twenty-somethings has fronted up to hardened politicians and told them not to worry, they’re drafting a Zero Carbon Act for them.
Countries rush to ratify Paris Agreement
22 Sep 2016
A host of countries has ratified the Paris Agreement overnight, pushing the climate change treaty past one of the thresholds that need to be met to bring it into force.
Three ways Trump could abandon Paris pact
20 Sep 2016
The possibility that a climate science denier could soon become America’s president is serving as an urgent motivator for diplomats in New York this week for United Nations meetings.
UN expects 20 nations to join pact this week
19 Sep 2016
At least 20 countries have indicated they will join the Paris climate change agreement at a United Nations event this week, raising hopes the deal will enter into force by the end of the year.
Brazil ratifies Paris Agreement (with promises)
14 Sep 2016
The Brazilian government has ratified its participation in the Paris Agreement on climate change, a significant step by Latin America’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases that could spur other countries to follow suit.
Amazon burns as Brazil signs Paris pledge
12 Sep 2016
Brazil’s new president, Michel Temer, will this week sign up to the Paris Agreement on climate change by committing Brazil to a reduction of 37 per cent of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, and of 43 per cent by 2030.
Paris pact submissions will be heard this month
9 Sep 2016
Submissions on New Zealand’s plans to ratify the Paris Agreement on climate change will be heard in Wellington on September 22.
Here’s what China and US just committed to on climate
9 Sep 2016
The leaders of the US and China committed their nations to the fight against global warming last weekend when they handed arcane but momentous documents to the United Nation’s top official.
Paris pact signing could be only weeks away
6 Sep 2016
New Zealand is likely to ratify the Paris Agreement in the next couple of months, the Government says.
China, US show the way but others must follow
5 Sep 2016
The decision by China and the US, the world’s two biggest greenhouse gas emitters, to ratify the landmark Paris accord on climate change heralds a new era of global cooperation on limiting emissions.
Ratification good news for carbon markets
5 Sep 2016
Ratification of the Paris Agreement by China and the United States is good news for the development of carbon markets, says the International Emissions Trading Association.
UN chief tolls bell for climate change sceptics
5 Sep 2016
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday that climate change scepticism is over, the day after the United States joined China to ratify the Paris agreement to curb climate-warming emissions.
Major nations not far off ratifying Paris pact
30 Aug 2016
The Bahamas is the latest country to ratify the Paris Agreement – and the United States, China and Brazil might not be far behind.
WHAT'S COOKING: Paris isn't the only game in town
30 Aug 2016
Luckily for the chances of avoiding global warming, the Paris climate deal isn’t the only game in town. Here’s a rundown of what else is cooking.
So the Paris deal enters into force, then what?
29 Aug 2016
Excitement is building over the likely entry into force of the UN’s climate deal – but that will only be the start of a new set of tricky negotiations.
Special report to scrutinise feasibility of 1.5deg
23 Aug 2016
The head of the United Nation’s climate body has called for a thorough assessment of the feasibility of the international goal to limit warming to 1.5deg.
Paris Agreement set to become law this year
19 Aug 2016
Fifty-seven countries accounting for 57.88 per cent of global emissions have now indicated they will ratify the Paris climate agreement before the end of 2016.
Global climate deal likely to enter into force this year
9 Aug 2016
A global agreement on climate change looks likely to enter into force this year, a new study shows.
Philippines turns back on Paris Agreement
19 Jul 2016
The Philippines will not honour commitments it made under the Paris climate change deal, says president Rodrigo Duterte.
UK, Germany betraying Paris deal, says UN
19 Jul 2016
The UN's climate change envoy has accused the UK and Germany of backtracking on the spirit of the Paris climate deal by financing the fossil fuel industry through subsidies.
Brexit will force EU to make deeper cuts
15 Jul 2016
Brexit will force the European Union’s remaining 27 countries to spend billions of euros on cutting carbon emissions more deeply to compensate for the UK leaving, according to experts.
Paris pledges fall short on emissions
4 Jul 2016
National promises made late last year to contain carbon dioxide emissions will not be nearly enough to meet the global warming target agreed last December by 195 nations, according to a new assessment.
Paris targets aren’t enough, but we can close the gap
1 Jul 2016
The Paris climate agreement saw countries pledge to limit global warming to well below 2degC, and to aim to keep it within 1.5deg. The problem is that countries' current emissions targets are not enough to meet these goals.
Moody's will use Paris to assess corporate risk
30 Jun 2016
Moody's Investors Service will use national climate action commitments put forward as part of the Paris Agreement in its analysis of the credit implications of carbon transition risk.
Paris climate deal approval on course
29 Jun 2016
The Paris climate deal is edging ever closer to coming into force say analysts, despite the UK’s Brexit vote last week plunging EU plans to ratify the deal into chaos.
UK commitment to Paris agreement in doubt
27 Jun 2016
With the vote to leave the EU, the UK’s future participation in the landmark Paris Agreement is now in doubt.
Big players' threats might force NZ to sign early
20 Jun 2016
Climate Change Minister Paula Bennett says New Zealand might have to ratify the Paris Agreement on climate change this year, as large countries threaten to lock us out of the process to set the crucial rules for the operation of international carbon markets and accounting.
UN says ratify; Government says not yet
17 Jun 2016
The Government has still not decided when it will ratify the Paris Agreement on climate change, Parliament heard yesterday.
Big banks still fund polluting industries
16 Jun 2016
The world’s biggest private-sector banks are still funding the industries that drive climate change to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars.
Hollande ratifies Paris climate deal for France
16 Jun 2016
Francois Hollande has become the first leader of an industrialised nation to ratify the Paris Agreement.
Australia's Liberals elect net zero opponent as new leader
Mon 16 Feb 2026
Australia's opposition Liberal Party elected as leader on Friday a conservative who lobbied to drop its commitment to net zero emissions, as it seeks to counter an insurgent populist right and rebuild support after a disastrous election loss last year.
EPA boss offers forceful defence for scrapping landmark Obama climate policy
Tue 17 Feb 2026
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin is just following the law, he said Saturday in Munich, where he defended the Trump administration’s move this week to disengage the United States from decades of efforts to regulate climate change.
China starts sea trials for largest electric-powered container ship
Tue 17 Feb 2026
China’s first 10,000-ton electric containership is beginning sea trials. The shipyard is billing the ship as the largest of its kind and a further breakthrough in short-sea shipping.
France bets on nuclear in new plan to cut fossil fuel imports
Mon 16 Feb 2026
The French government unveiled a 10-year energy strategy that leans heavily on nuclear power and offshore wind farms to curb fossil fuel dependence. Environmental groups criticised a 'stubborn insistence on believing in the nuclear myth'.
A UK climate security report backed by the intelligence services was quietly buried – a pattern we’ve seen many times before
5 Feb 2026
Last autumn, a UK government report warned that climate-driven ecosystem collapse could lead to food shortages, mass migration, political extremism and even nuclear conflict. The report was never officially launched.
Mark Carney just picked his lane on climate change
Tue 17 Feb 2026
COMMENT: Mark Carney's time as prime minister has been defined in part by his decision to roll back Trudeau-era climate policies.
Singapore sets first ever sustainable aviation fuel levy, as Southeast Asia’s fuel industry grows
Tue 17 Feb 2026
Flying in and out of Singapore, home to Southeast Asia’s busiest airport, will get slightly more expensive this year as the city state begins imposing a levy of between 75 cents to $32 per ticket to fund sustainable aviation fuel.
Pacific fisheries summit gives a boost to albacore and seabirds
19 Dec 2025
Much of the world’s albacore tuna catch, which usually ends up in a can, comes from the southwestern Pacific Ocean, where fishery managers just passed a new set of conservation rules.
Warming climate threatens Greenland's ancestral way of life
Thu 12 Feb 2026
The Arctic region is on the frontline of global warming, heating up four times faster than the rest of the planet since 1979, according to a 2022 study in scientific journal Nature, causing the sea ice to retreat.
Africa leads growth in solar energy as demand spreads beyond traditional markets, report says
Mon 16 Feb 2026
A report shows that Africa has emerged as the world's fastest-growing solar market even as global growth slowed last year, driven by a 60% surge in imports of solar panels from China.
Argentina fires ravage pristine Patagonia forests, fueling criticism of Milei’s austerity
4 Feb 2026
The wildfires, among the worst to hit the drought-stricken Patagonia region in decades, have devastated more than 45,000 hectares (174 square miles) of Argentina’s forests in the last month and a half, forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents and tourists.
